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ALL are desirable…..
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All of those motors are very rare and valuable to my knowledge. the first looks to be a Callie RBM, the second a Callie liberty twin, the third a koban RBM of some sort. I highly doubt you will ever find parts for them because anybody who has one will be looking for parts as well, and will not sell it for parts. I would only do a mechanical restoration on the liberty twin because it looks to be in good shape. you could restore the other two, but if they were my motors, I would rather keep them as original as possible and just do a light cleaning and a mechanical only restoration. If they weren’t so far away from Wisconsin, I would definitely ask if I could buy them, although they would probably be out of my current price range. If you want to sell them, they would probably sell pretty fast for a good buck. As far as what to do with them, that is up to you (or your friend, if he keeps them). You could use any of them as really cool wall hangers, or you could fix them and have one of under 100(I suspect) running examples of each motor. The most important thing to think about before selling them if you are considering that is that you will probably never find one for less than market price should you decide to require one(and manage to find one for sale). Try to get one running. It’s fun(and less dangerous than you’d think) to start a motor by spinning the flywheel by hand.
"Outboards seem to multiply exponentially..........I find that for every finished project, there are two more waiting to be completed."
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All would fetch a really good buck. First pick is a Callie RBM of some sort, second a Callie Liberty Twin, and third a Koban RMB. I would keep them because you will probably never find one for sale again. I wouldn’t cosmetically restore them unless you hate how they look. By all means get them running. Starting a motor by cranking the flywheel over by hand is very fun(and less dangerous than you would think!) I’d ask to buy them but I live in Wisconsin, and besides, they would probably be out of my price range.
"Outboards seem to multiply exponentially..........I find that for every finished project, there are two more waiting to be completed."
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Impressive Find John!
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On the Caille, the presence of that brass clevis below the fuel tank that shows in both the OP image and Tub’s indicates that this is a Caille 5 – speed motor…even rarer and more desirable assuming that the variable pitch propellor is there and intact.
Joe B
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The Caille rowboat motor is post-1915 since it has the bulbous exhaust muffler assembly. can’t tell what the flywheel looks like, but it might be an Evinrude flywheel since there was a period of time that Evinrude sold magnetos to Caille (thats where the term “Caille-Rude” comes from). There will be a serial number stamped lightly into the transom bracket somewhere, Find that number and we can help pin a more accurate year of manufacture to it. I don’t agree that the 5-speed feature makes it more rare. It may be more desirable, but rare isn’t the term for it. Not when you’ve seen and run as many as I have at any rate. I find many of these Caille motors have bad coils in them, so I usually end up bypassing the coil and condenser and running it off a Model T buzz coil and 6-volt battery.
The Caille Liberty Twin (the longshaft motor) was only built during 1924-28. The key thing on those is a) is the gear driven magneto still on the motor and b) does it work? Many of the magnetos need rebuilding before they can produce spark. These are nice running motors even though the RPM range tops out at 1200, but a good Liberty Twin will run all day and give you a memorable case of shoulder tendinitis while doing it. Some have a rope sheave on the flywheel, some don’t. Mine doesn’t have a rope shave, but its easy to start by flipping the flywheel by hand. Forget about making hard fast turns in either direction cuz that ain’t happening.
The Koban is likely a 1916 model due to the larger exhaust manifold and the use of that big aluminum flywheel. Its the same flywheel as used on some Caille Liberty singles and also the 1916 Waterman C-16. Those motors all use a version of the Knoblauch-Heidemann ignition that is usually still good even after more than 100 years. The K-H ignition was the forerunner of the Quick Action magneto which was famous for being used on the Johnson Light Twins of the early 20’s and beyond. The pictured Koban appears to have all of its pieces in place. Koban was the first successful twin detachable rowboat motor that was actually able to stay in business for several years. They do run very smoothly, just as advertised. Its not a motor for those with herniated discs or other spine-related maladies, but otherwise they are interesting to work on and fun just to have around. Its common for the tank to get banged up some, but they’re not too bad for taking the tank apart and working the dents out from the inside.
Hope this helps, but my usual disclaimer applies if it doesn’t
Best
PM T2He's livin' in his own private Idaho..... I hope to go out quietly in my sleep, like my grand-dad did..... and not screaming, like the passengers in his car...
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